The Ancient Life History of the Earth - A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of - Palæontological Science

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Life History of the Earth by Henry Alleyne Nicholson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Ancient Life History of the Earth A Comprehensive Outline Of The Principles And Leading Facts Of Palæontological Science Author: Henry Alleyne Nicholson Release Date: December 6, 2004 [EBook #14279] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE EARTH *** Produced by Robert J. Hall THE ANCIENT LIFE-HISTORY OF THE EARTH A COMPREHENSIVE OUTLINE OF THE PRINCIPLES AND LEADING FACTS OF PALÆONTOLOGICAL SCIENCE BY H. ALLEYNE NICHOLSON M.D., D.SC., M.A., PH. D. (GÖTT), F.R.S.E, F.L.S. PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS Page vPREFACE. The study of Palæontology, or the science which is concerned with the living beings which flourished upon the globe during past periods of its history, may be pursued by two parallel but essentially distinct paths. By the one method of inquiry, we may study the anatomical characters and structure of the innumerable extinct forms of life which lie buried in the rocks simply as so many organisms, with but a slight and secondary reference to the time at which they lived.